Field
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a program, and, in particular, to a technique for carrying out a job by the image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
As a technique for allowing an image forming apparatus to accomplish image processing that is not provided the factory-shipped image forming apparatus, with respect to various kinds of jobs, there has been a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-48725. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-48725 describes a mobile agent providing processing with respect to print data being transferred to an image forming apparatus including a resident agent (a printer control object and an image scanner control object).
However, according to the configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-48725, the mobile agent and the resident agent exist independently of one another. As a result, even though the mobile agent and the resident agent can use a common control library, they cannot operate in cooperation with each other.
Therefore, when new image processing is desired to be added as a plug-in to an image forming apparatus, the image processing needs to be added as a new mobile agent separate from the resident agent. However, in this configuration, the new mobile agent cannot allow the image forming apparatus to carry over and use on a screen of the resident agent that a user is familiar with, a user setting already registered with the resident agent, and the like. This technique thus may lead to a reduction in the user's convenience.